Dialogues

Interview at ‘L.A. Radio Seoul’

Broadcasted on 9th May, 2001 on the radio program, ‘Home Sweet Home’

Radio Host :

In this segment, we will be talking about meditation which is a huge topic in Korea at the moment. A Meditation Seminar will be held in L.A. soon and we have invited Woo Myung, a teacher of meditation to speak with us. Welcome! I feel I should also bow my head in greeting. Tell us, what is your meditation?

Woo Myung :

There are two types of minds – the mind of the Universe and the human mind. The original mind is the entire Universe and the human mind is one that forms from the environment in which one grows up. In our meditation, we cleanse away all human minds and return to the mind of the Universe that is the original mind.

Radio Host :

Earlier I read a newspaper article about your meditation, which drew my attention. What are ‘minds’? Aren’t they remembered thoughts accumulated from one’s life?

Woo Myung :

Yes.

Radio Host :

Doesn’t everyone have ‘human’ minds?

Woo Myung :

That’s right. Everyone’s minds are different which is why everyone’s personalities are different. A person who has always lived in America has an American mind and a person who has lived in Korea comes to have a Korean mind. When those minds remain ‘in the mind’ they become conceptions, and are stored as habits in the body. Anyone can return back to the original mind and become a saint if they empty all of their minds.

Radio Host :

The minds are the remembered thoughts from one’s life. Then how can one empty the mind? In the newspaper article, it said that you can do it by killing and discarding all of your remembered thoughts. When you have saved too many files on a computer and the memory is full, you have to delete some of them in order to be able to save more files. I thought perhaps that cleansing the mind would be along the same lines. Is that right?

Woo Myung :

Yes, that’s right.

Radio Host :

How can we cleanse our minds?

Woo Myung :

Cleansing our minds means to discard our remembered thoughts, all of our thoughts entirely, and all thoughts that have been stored about everything in our past.

Radio Host :

You teach people that their minds can be discarded and also how it can be done, right?

Woo Myung :

Yes, that’s right.

Radio Host :

Can it be done quickly?

Woo Myung :

It can be done by anyone quickly. There are different levels, but it takes only a week to know that one’s self is the Universe. When one completes all levels, your ‘self’ disappears completely and you become one with the original nature – the entity that has always existed – and you can know that you have become one with the Universe.

Radio Host :

Koreans in Korea and Korean Americans are a little different. People here may be a little more financially affluent, but being immigrants, our minds are more complicated. We tend to be quite stressed. What do you think?

Woo Myung :

Stress, modern ailments, and all illnesses come from the mind. I have often seen people becoming cured of illnesses when they become free from all of their stresses, preconceptions, and habits by emptying their minds. In Korea, there are meditation centers all over the country.

Radio Host :

There are many people in Korea who are practicing now. You must feel a great sense of fulfillment when you see people changing through meditation.

Woo Myung :

Mostly, people’s minds are revealed in their faces. A person whose mind is comfortable has a bright and clear face, but when people first come to meditate, their faces are shadowed with many minds. However, I have seen many people resolve the issues in their minds and naturally become cured from their ailments after cleansing their minds.

Radio Host :

I’ve heard that you cleanse your karma and habits. What does that mean?

Woo Myung :

Simply put, karma is the memories from the life one has lived, and habits are the habitualized behaviors that are embedded in our bodies. We consist of our bodies and minds right? Well, a person who wakes up at 9 in the morning every day tends to wake up automatically at that time even when nothing wakes them up. That is what habit is. The conceptions and habits that are stored in the body can be eliminated completely through this meditation.

Radio Host :

Oh!

Woo Myung :

This is discarding one’s conceptions and habits. By discarding the individual’s conceptions and habits, one returns to the conceptions and habits of the whole, thereby attaining great freedom and finding one’s original nature. Then when one’s self disappears completely one naturally attains complete freedom.

Radio Host :

It was very interesting to have this discussion with you today. Many immigrants here experience difficulties in their relationships with their children. There are also many who suffer from marital problems and financial worries. When people go through difficulties in their family life, they often can’t maintain a healthy mind. How can one overcome these sorts of difficulties?

Woo Myung :

Even in Korea, the divorce rate these days is 1 in every 3 couples, and many people worry about issues in their relationships with their children. Many practitioners began meditating because of their marital problems. They came to try meditation as a last shot before going through with divorce. Often during the process of meditation, people realize their wrong-doings and especially when both parties meditate, they end up apologizing to each other. Most people do not know what they have done wrong. This is because of the strong frame of mind that they are right. These ‘frames of mind’ are made from the environment in which one grows up. For example, if a husband has a mind of a triangle, he will act within the framework of the triangle but a woman who has a mind of a square will act within the framework of a square. These ‘frames’ are one’s conceptions only, and if you destroy and eliminate them, it is possible to live as one. When that happens, even couples with big marital issues are able to reconcile and go on to have happy relationships. This is because when one discards his minds and his self disappears, all of his inner obstructions and conflicts disappear.

Radio Host :

It was difficult to fit in such a wide topic like the mind into a short slot. One thing I think we all realized is how important the mind is. I would like to thank Woo Myung once again for joining us today.